While governments throughout the world have different approaches to how they make their public sector information (PSI) available and the terms under which the information may be reused, there appears to be a broad recognition of the importance of digital networks and PSI to the economy and to society. However, despite the huge investments in PSI and the even larger estimated effects, surprisingly little is known about the costs and benefits of different information policies on the information society and the knowledge economy. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the current assessment methods and their underlying criteria, it should be possible to improve and apply such tools to help rationalize the policies and to clarify the role of the internet in disseminating PSI. This in turn can help promote the efficiency and effectiveness of PSI investments and management, and to improve their downstream economic and social results. The workshop that is summarized in this volume was intended to review the state of the art in assessment methods and to improve the understanding of what is known and what needs to be known about the effects of PSI activities.

It was a simple announcement on a summer day. It appeared to be a straightforward proposal to solve a serious problem. Constrained by a statutory requirement for self-funding and facing a new paradigm in information dissemination, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) was failing. As federal agencies distributed reports at no cost on the World Wide Web-- reports that formerly NTIS had distributed--NTIS was unable to collect revenue sufficient to cover its costs of cataloging and maintaining its collection. The proposal put forth in August 1999 by the Department of Commerce (where NTIS is organizationally located) was to close NTIS and move its collections and functions to the Library of Congress. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) immediately recognized this proposal to be far more significant than it first appeared. Fundamental issues regarding how the government used, disseminated and valued its information resources were at stake. The Commission stepped forward and prepared a preliminary assessment of the proposed closure of NTIS, which it delivered to the President and Congress. This report recommended a number of steps to keep NTIS operational, but it also stated that a much broader assessment of the underlying issues involved in public information dissemination throughout government was needed.

"Federal agencies increasingly use recently developed Internettechnologies that allow individuals or groups to create, organize, commenton, and share online content. The useof these social media services-including popular Web sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube-has been endorsed by PresidentObama and provides opportunitiesfor agencies to more readily shareinformation with and solicit feedbackfrom the public. However, theseservices may also pose risks to theadequate protection of both personaland government information.GAO was asked to (1) describe how federal agencies are currently usingcommercially provided social mediaservices and (2) determine the extent to which agencies have developedand implemented policies andprocedures for managing andprotecting information associated with this use. To do this, GAOexamined the headquarters-level Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and YouTube channels of 24 majorfederal agencies; reviewed pertinent policies, procedures, and guidance;and interviewed officials involved in agency use of social media. "